Start preparations now for 2013-14 financial aid application

If your son or daughter will be returning for the 2013-14 academic year, now is the time to start preparing your 2013-14 financial aid application. The CSB/SJU financial aid office encourages families first to complete and submit your federal tax return, as information from your return will be needed on the application.

As you may recall from last year, the U.S. Department of Education is encouraging FAFSA filers to use the new IRS Data Retrieval Tool to transfer income and tax information directly from the IRS into your FAFSA. You'll need to wait a period of time between filing your taxes and using the Data Retrieval Tool. The Department states that students and parents who file their tax returns electronically might have to wait up to three weeks, but you can certainly attempt Data Retrieval sooner. Those submitting their tax return through the mail may have to wait up to eight weeks.